A little spark of creativity burns in most folks. Homebuilder-turned-sculptor John King reasons it’s his job to cultivate those embers when he can, getting professional artists and folks who never have contemplated making art to contribute work to the annual Lyons Sculpture Trail. This year’s installation winds through town around some very odd corners of the imagination.

John King intended to be an artist. But after art school, he gave up on the idea of making a living as a professional sculptor and started to earn his keep designing and building houses instead. Now that he’s 57, King says he has reached the point again that all he wants to do is make art – mostly witty kinetic pieces that evoke laughter – and share it with the world. Figuring that there were other people in his new hometown of Lyons in the same state of mind, he dreamed up the Lyons Sculpture Trail, a temporary art exhibition installed along a “path” through town. Now in its second year, the trail includes 58 stops that range from a place to look at a few dozen teeny paintings to a 7 1/2-ton sandstone egg laid in Sandstone Park by local quarry workers. Some of King’s own contributions to the trail are navigational devices that help art trekkers see their way to the next installation.

I noticed that your “Flowering Telescope” was a bit out of focus when I visited. There’s definitely a maintenance component to the trail. Unfortunately, because I’m the maintenance man and my daughter got married yesterday, the maintenance has not been good in the last week.

Do people mess with the art a lot? Last year it was surprising how little disruption occurred to the art. People really take care of it once they figure out it’s there. It’s like there is a secret little line that goes around town.

The “secret” aspect of the trail was part of the fun for me. The art sort of reveals itself as you follow along. You have to put something in to find it. It’s not like a passive trip to the mall, where you’re looking of at stuff that is displayed.

Wouldn’t a gallery show be just as good? The notion of a journey is something people really love and you can experience this on the trail. It’s art as an adventure. On a journey, you can get caught by the story and the sense that something is happening.

You’ve got the work of well-known professional artists right up against rank amateurs. How does that work? We try to be really inclusive of people in the neighborhood and the environment. Last year the trail had a smaller number of works, so it was less of a show but we had more of a hold on the way the things fit together. This year, we have included a great variety of artists, from school children to a group called Generationally Active Persons, which is made up of gray-hairs and all their friends.

GAP. Hey, didn’t they do “The Offering Tree” on Main Street, with all the ceramic pieces hanging in a live tree? I wanted to steal it. That turned out to be a really successful piece. Twenty people worked on it.

Your trail cohort Deirdre Butler says you believe everyone has spark of creativity and that you want to help them express it. True? That’s very correct. Creativity is all of our birthright, but some of us haven’t worked at opening it very much. Some of us can really focus on these things and be more “talented” and “acclaimed.” But what we’re sharing in this trail are really high-quality pieces by professional artists, right next to piles of things by children. We have the whole spectrum and they’re not disconnected.

How do you think participating in this trail works for the professional artists? Sometimes I think professionals are caught up in producing objects that may be valuable. But piling rocks on the sidewalk can be a heck of a a lot more fun. It’s a liberation and I think that’s why some of these artists participate.

Did your contributors design with the trail in mind? Probably half of the pieces in the show were built to be on the trail. For Michael Hibner’s “Aerial Dance of the Mayflies,” off of the Fourth Street bridge, the artist sat in the location for a while, then moved into the studio and made the piece to go there. It’s not the way artists normally function.

Some of the art just made me laugh. Is that intentional? The trail is a chance to see the world through fresh eyes. The art’s not saying “I’m valuable! Buy me!” Some of it’s saying “I’m silly! Stop and talk to me for a second!”

Any place on the trail a “must-see” stretch? The stretch around the library, mostly because it’s in the woods, under the trees. It’s more fanciful at that point, with funny doorways, and the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. And then the librarian, Merlyn Williams, made a bunch of lily pads that are about 3 feet high; walking through it is like wading through a lake. Here’s a non-professional, very creative person who came up with this thing that came out really nice. It kind of makes you bubble.

ART ATLAS

You’ll need a map to help you navigate the Lyons Sculpture Trail. Pick up a guide ($2), which provides directions and descriptions of the work, at The Barking Dog Café, 447 Main St.; The Stone Cup, 442 High St.; or the Visitors Center at 350 Broadway, in Sandstone Park. Wear comfortable shoes and plan to spend up to two hours wandering the trail, which starts in the heart of town and winds along the banks of the North St. Vrain River and through two city parks.

The trail will be open through Oct. 22. For more details, visit sculpturetrail.com.

The Senior Editor for News at The Denver Post and a Colorado native, Dana Coffield has worked at news organizations of all sizes, including the Rocky Mountain News, the Associated Press bureaus in Denver and Cheyenne, weekly general interest and business publications in Boulder and Larimer counties and at the Daily Times-Call in Longmont. She has also worked as a business editor at technology and natural products trade magazines.

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